In "Reeling for the Empire," one of the eight stories appearing in Karen Russell's "Vampires in the Lemon Grove," a young woman pines for adventure in a rapidly changing 19th-century Japan. Falling for the dubious charms of a "recruitment agent," what she gets instead is a life-draining job in a silk factory.

This being Russell - author of the wildly imaginative "Swamplandia!" as well as an equally inventive prior story collection - a potentially naturalistic tale lands instead in the twilight zone. | Feb. 8, 2013»Read Full Article